


Up-Down Hills and Forgotten Pills

by philsdrill



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Dan Howell - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phan Fluff, Phandom - Freeform, Phil Lester - Freeform, TATINOF, Tour, Tour Bus, Travel, Vomit, Vomiting, car, car sickness, phanfluff, tw vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 02:12:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14760660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philsdrill/pseuds/philsdrill
Summary: A road full of hills and forgetting his pills isn’t exactly Phil’s idea of fun. Phil gets travelsick on the tatinof bus and Dan looks after him.





	Up-Down Hills and Forgotten Pills

**Author's Note:**

> If you happen to have read this before, I posted this in June 2016 on tumblr. Also if anyone's interested in following me on tumblr - I'm more active on there and there's more fics - you can find me at [philsdrill](https://philsdrill.tumblr.com).

**Dan’s POV:**

Martyn, Cornelia and I were in the living area of our tour bus, setting up a game of monopoly for the evening. Phil was in our bedroom, changing into more comfortable clothes and putting his phone on charge. We’d not been back on the bus long since our dinner stop and we were now getting comfy for the evening.

We had the monopoly board ready, cards stacked and the bank organised and Phil still wasn’t back.

“I’m going to go and find Phil,” I told Martyn and Cornelia, getting up from my seat and walking the few steps to Phil and I’s bedroom door.

I opened the door, expecting to see Phil tripping putting his pyjamas in or something, but instead he seemed to be curled up on the bed, eyes shut. Was he asleep? He had certainly seemed tired when he went away to get changed, but something didn’t seem right.

“Phil?” I called out, shutting the door over and going over towards the bed.

Phil let out a groan, telling me that he was not asleep, but something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him, gently placing a hand on his side, “Phil?”

“Feel really sick,” he mumbled.

“Okay,” I said, now understanding what was wrong, “We forgot about your travel sickness pills at dinner, didn’t we?”

“Yeah…” Phil groaned.

I grabbed a travel sickness bag from the small stock we had brought in case of situations like this and passed it to Phil.

“You keep a hold of that just in case,” I told him, “I’ll be right back.”

Going about it as quickly as I could, I went out into the living area to tell Martyn and Cornelia that we wouldn’t be playing monopoly after all.

“Phil’s feeling really travelsick so we won’t be able to play,” I told them, “We both forgot about his tablets and he’s really suffering.”

“Would they work if he took them now?” Cornelia asked.

“I don’t think so,” I told them, “They take quite a while to have an effect. Also, I have no idea where they are.”

They both nodded in understanding, but not giving any other suggestions.

“Okay, bye. I’m going back to Phil,” I told them, heading back in the direction of our room, “He’s not good; I think his dinner may make a reappearance.”

“Do you need anything?” Martyn asked.

“Ummm… maybe some water,” I thought aloud, “And then once you’ve brought it, could you ask the driver if he can stop at the next service station or whatever?”

“Yeah, sure,” Martyn said, getting up to do what I’d asked.

I hurried back to Phil. I hadn’t even been gone a minute but it felt like so much longer because I knew he needed me. He was still laying in the same position and probably hadn’t moved since I left. It took quite a bit of persuasion but I managed to get him sitting up, leaning against the headboard.

“Martyn’s gone to get you some water,” I told him, “And then he’s going to ask the driver to stop at the next stop.”

“Good,” Phil sniffed, peering down at the sick bag which he now held open in front of him.

Seeing that Phil had the bag open, I knew that wasn’t a good sign. It meant he believed he was going to need to use it. I hoped that he would make it to the service station, but to be honest, that was looking very unlikely. Phil was incredibly pale and looked like he was going to throw up sometime soon.

“Try and take a couple of deep breaths,” I suggested, something that sometimes helps with feeling nauseous.

Phil did what I suggested, but he didn’t look any the better of it. I put an arm around him, my hand on his shoulder, wanting to comfort him as much as I could.

It wasn’t long before Martyn knocked on the door.

“Come in,” I called out, not really wanting to leave Phil’s side.

The door opened slowly and Martyn walked into the room, a bottle of water in his hand. He brought it over and held it out. I took it from him as Phil couldn’t seem to be bothered to move.

“I hope you feel better,” Martyn said, placing his hand on Phil’s knee for a second, “I’ll leave you alone with Dan because I know you don’t like too many people around when you’re sick.”

“Thanks,” Phil mumbled, forcing a small smile onto his face as he looked up at his brother.

“S’okay,” Martyn replied, wandering back towards the door, “You focus on feeling better, okay? I’m going to go and ask the driver about stopping.”

Martyn shut the door behind him as he went back into the living area.

I popped open the water bottle and encouraged into Phil’s free hand, “Have some water, even if it’s only a few sips.”

With a little encouragement, he lifted the bottle to his lips and drank a little, handing the bottle back to me when he was done. We sat there a while, not really talking. It was just me trying to comfort Phil, while he looked progressively more ill.

I made sure that the spare sick bags were within reach, should he need them. There would be nothing worse than him being sick on himself, the bed or the bus. Phil was concentrating too much on trying to keep his dinner down to even notice my movements.

I felt the bus going up a hill and had a feeling that the peak of the hill would be the climax of Phil’s travel sickness also. Sure enough, as the bus lurched over the top, Phil let out a loud retching noise and threw up into the bag. It seemed quite a lot of sick, but then we had just eaten. I could smell an underlying hint of what we’d had for dinner and that made me feel a little queasy. I quickly passed Phil a fresh bag and took the used one from him to seal up before the smell bothered us too much.

“It’s okay,” I said, rubbing Phil’s back.

He had the fresh sick bag held close to his mouth, telling me that it probably wasn’t quite over. As we went over the next small hill, Phil vomited a little more, probably finishing the job. I remained by his side, not wanting to move away until I knew he was okay.

It wasn’t long before we reached to top of the next bump in the road - it was a particularly bumpy road - but this time Phil was okay. He still didn’t look good, but not having him throwing up was an improvement.

Phil rinsed his mouth out with a little water and spat into the bag. That was a positive sign, that he too thought it was over.

“D’you think you’re done?” I asked him, using a soft voice, so as not to sound too presumptuous.

“Hopefully,” Phil replied shakily.

I nodded and made my arm a little more secure around him, encouraging him to lean against me if he needed to. We stayed that way for a couple of minutes, Phil trembling by my side, but seeming a bit better.

“Just a warning,” I started, “I’m going to raise my voice slightly to get Martyn - going to ask him about the next stop.”

“MARTYN,” I called loudly, so that he would hear me from the next room.

“Yeah?” he said, popping his head around the door a couple of seconds later.

“Did you ask the driver when we can next stop?” I asked.

“Yeah, he says it will be in about five to ten minutes,” Martyn told us, stopping to sniff the air slightly, “Has Phil been sick?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, pointing to the sick bag I had placed out of the way and the one Phil was still holding, “Quite a lot. I’m glad we brought these.”

“Yeah, that was a good idea,” he commented, “This is a very hilly road though. I’m feeling it slightly myself and I don’t get travel sick.”

The bus topped another hill and Martyn grabbed at the door frame to stop himself from losing his balance. I was about to tell him to sit down if he was staying when Phil let out a retching sound. I quickly turned my attention back to him as he spat into the bag. He had a hand around his neck and looked to be in a little pain.

I pushed his hand away and replaced it with my own, passing him the bottle of water, “Have a drink, Phil. It’s better to actually have something to throw up if you need to. The acidy stuff hurts.”

Phil nodded slightly and gratefully took the bottle of water from me. He drank a slow and steady stream of water. I could feel his throat as he swallowed it. I moved my hand to his arm and stopped him before he had too much.

“I’m gonna go,” Martyn said, “And give Phil a little more privacy. Dan, shout if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” I smiled at him as he left the room and shut the door behind him.

“You want to cuddle a little?” I asked Phil.

“Yeah…” he replied hesitantly, “Just keep away from my mouth in case I need to be sick again; I’m still not feeling good.”

“Yeah, of course,” I said understandingly, scooping him up from next to me and swinging his legs over mine.

I wrapped both hands around his middle and pulled him in so he was leaning against me. We were both still sitting relatively upright; I didn’t want him to choke or anything.

“Try and relax a little,” I told him, prising his fingers off the sick bag and holding it for him, “This will still be right here if you need it.”

“Thanks,” Phil mumbled, dropping his hands to his lap and letting his shoulders relax slightly.

For about the next six or seven minutes, I continued to cuddle Phil, my hands gently massaging his stomach, to try and relieve some of the tension from his muscles.

I felt the bus slow down and turn a couple of times and I was guessing we were at the stop. I rolled Phil’s shirt back over his stomach and rested my hand on top.

“I think we might be turning into the stop,” I told him.

“Good,” he mumbled, “I need to get out of here.”

“I know,” I replied, “We’ll go for a little walk around so you can get some fresh air, you can brush your teeth to get rid of the taste and we’ll have a look and see if there’s anything we can buy that’ll make you feel a little better.”

“Yeah,” Phil nodded.

The bus came to a stop and Phil let out a sigh of relief. I got up, but encouraged him to stay seated for another minute while I grabbed what we needed to take with us. I pulled a jumper on, put my phone and wallet into my pocket and found Phil’s washbag. I tossed Phil one of his jumpers, knowing it would be cold outside this late. As an afterthought, I grabbed another hoodie and slung it over my arm. It was one of mine, but if Phil got cold it wouldn’t really matter whose it was.

“Dan, Phil, are you guys coming?” Martyn shouted from another part of the bus.

“Yep, two seconds, just getting organised,” I replied, now wandering over to Phil to give him a hand up.

Phil took a second to get steady on his feet, but when he was ready, I grabbed the two sick bags to chuck in a bin and we left the bus. The first few steps we took back on solid land were fine for me, but Phil seemed to still have bus legs. I really wished I could hold his hand, but we never knew when there was a fan around. Instead, I settled for walking as close to him as I could without us tripping over each other.

Our first stop was a bin, where I very gladly threw away two bags with Phil’s puke in them. He was glad to see them go too. The others had all gone straight to the building but I’d decided to take Phil for a walk around the car park first.

“You good for a little walk around?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” he replied, “This air is kind of pleasant, less stuffy than the bus.”

Phil and I walked around the perimeter of the car park. This particular stop wasn’t very busy, but then it was late evening, rather than earlier in the day when most people would do their travelling. I probably could get away with holding Phil’s hand, but knowing our luck, the one time we risked it would be the one time we got caught.

As we were about as far from the building as we could get, I saw Phil shiver and pull his sleeves down over his hands. I guess I’d predicted this would happen; he always got cold when he was sick.

I stopped and passed Phil the hoodie, “Here, put this on. I don’t want you to get too cold.”

“Thanks,” Phil said, taking the hoodie and pulling it on over the one he was already wearing.

“D’you want to go inside now?” I asked him, “C’mon, it’ll be warm.”

Phil agreed with me that we should go inside so we walked quicker around the rest of the car park. When we got into the building we headed straight to the toilets so Phil could have a little freshen up.

Phil washed his face and brushed his teeth and looked the better of it. Taking the opportunity of there being no one else around, I brought him into a tight hug.

“You feeling well enough for a kiss?” I asked him, cupping the side of his face with my hand.

Phil answered my question by pressing his lips against mine. I was ready to kiss him back and I did just that. It was nice to have a moment’s privacy while not on the bus, even if it wasn’t long enough to do anything more.

I kept the kiss short, to save us from the embarrassment if anyone walked in, but it was the perfect balance of sweet and loving.

“I love you,” I mumbled in Phil’s ear as we pulled apart.

“I love you too Dan,” he replied, “Honestly, you’re the best. Thanks so much for being there and helping me through being travel sick.”

“It’s okay,” I told him, leaning in to give him another quick peck, “I couldn’t not help you. You mean so much to me. I’ll always be there if I can, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Phil said, a small smile on his face, but moisture threatening to leak from his eyes.

I lifted my hands to his face and lifted his glasses off so I could brush away the tears. My thumb gently brushed across under his eye and wiped away the moisture.

I returned Phil’s glasses to his face and stepped away from him, brushing my fingers down his hand as I eventually pulled my hand away.

“I’m going to use the toilet, and then we can go out to the shop,” I told him, disappearing into a cubicle to do my business.

I think Phil did the same and we reunited by the sinks afterwards. After washing our hands and remarking on the quality of this stops hand-dryers (it’s amazing the things you compare at different stops on such long journeys), we wandered out into the shop.

I was glad to see the shop sold travel sickness tablets. I picked up a packet knowing that Phil either had lost his current pack, or would do at some point.

I also picked up a few snacks, a packet of biscuits and a bag of Doritos, so that Phil wouldn’t be taking them on an empty stomach.

I also found some crackers and a packet of mints because I’d heard somewhere that they were good for settling stomachs and nausea, respectively.

I added some chocolate to our shopping, mainly intended for myself but I would share it with Phil if he wanted. The supply of snacks would also come in handy if either of us got peckish later on.

I paid for our shopping and then we went to find Martyn and Cornelia. They were having coffees in the café section so we joined them at their table.

“You feeling a bit better?” Martyn asked Phil.

“Yeah, I am. Having some fresh air and being on ground which isn’t moving has been a big help,” he explained.

“We’ve bought some more travel sickness tablets so Phil can take a dose before we get back on the bus,” I said to Martyn, holding up our bag of purchases, “Got some snacks too.”

Before I forgot, I decided it was time to get Phil to take the tablets. I went over to the counter to ask for a glass of water for him.

I laid the glass of water down in front of Phil, then opened the crackers and passed him one. It took him a while, but eventually he had two crackers down and they seemed to be staying.

I popped the correct dose of the tablets out of the packet and passed them to Phil. He put them in his mouth, swallowed them and washed them down with a glass of water.

“Okay?” I asked him, about thirty seconds after he’d swallowed them.

“I think so…” he said hesitantly.

“Can you eat a biscuit?” I asked him, holding up the chocolate biscuits I had bought, “You need some food in you and the sugar might help.”

“Okay,” Phil said, not sounding too sure but taking one from me anyway.

Phil ate the biscuit slowly, but did look happy at the taste of chocolate in his mouth. When he was finished, I decided that he was probably well enough to go back to the bus.

“Should we head back to the bus?” I asked, an open question to our group of four.

“Yeah, we probably should…” Martyn said, “Phil, you going to manage?”

“I think so,” Phil replied, taking a nervous gulp of his water.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said to Phil, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze, “You’re going to be okay.”

“But what if I’m not?” He asked, “I still don’t feel good.”

“We’ll stop and find a hotel if we absolutely need to,” I told him, “But you’ll be fine. I think you should head to bed once you’ve settled a little.”

We got back onto the bus and headed to the living area, where we had been planning in playing monopoly earlier. Martyn and Cornelia had since cleared away the game as it wasn’t so fun with just two people.

I sat on one sofa with Phil and put my arms around him. He was a little apprehensive about being back on the bus and a little worried about the pills not kicking in immediately.

The bus got going and Phil was noticeably tense. The road was still about as hilly as before, but he seemed okay.

“Dan,” Phil spoke up after a while, “I feel a bit sick again.”

“I think you’re just worried,” I told him, “You’re fine. You seen a lot better than earlier.”

“Can you get a sick bag, just in case?” He asked.

“If it makes you feel better, then sure,” I said, getting up to retrieve one from our room, “You’ll be fine though.”

I grabbed Phil a bag from the room and made sure he still had some water. I knew he’d be fine, but I wanted him to be as at ease as he could be while feeling a little wobbly.

I handed Phil a mint as I sat back down.

“Dan, I don’t feel well; I don’t want a mint,” he complained.

“Peppermint helps nausea,” I told him, “If anything, it’ll make you feel better.”

“Really?” Phil said, surprised.

“Yeah,” I nodded, now pressing into his hand, “Give it a shot.”

Phil accepted the mint and popped it into his mouth. I could see his tongue pressing against the inside of his cheeks as he moved it around his mouth.

At that point, Martyn and Cornelia sat down on the other sofa.

“Phil, how are you feeling?” Martyn asked him, “Do you guys want to play monopoly now?”

I looked at Phil and he looked back at me. We exchange a couple of nods and eyebrow movements, and quickly had an answer.

“Yeah, we’ll play,” Phil said, “I think I’m okay.”

“Great,” Martyn said cheerily, getting the game back out the box, “Just say if you’re not though and we can stop. You got enough water and everything?”

“Yep,” Phil nodded, both of us looking down at the bottle of water he had by his feet.

The other two had the game set up again fairly quickly and it wasn’t long before we started playing. Phil got sent to jail the first time he landed on a chance card square, and by the time he’d tried rolling for doubles and then eventually paid the bail, I had already bought two properties and was almost at the jail square.

Although he’d started with some bad luck, Phil caught up with the rest of us fairly quickly, even managing to bag Park Lane and Mayfair, the two best but most expensive properties on the board. We’d been playing for around an hour, and each had multiple houses and the odd hotel built up, when I noticed that Phil was yawning a lot and looking rather tired.

“Phil, are you okay?” I asked him, “Tired?”

“Yeah,” he said, yawning in the middle of his response.

“I think you should go to bed,” I told him, “We can finish the game in the morning. You need some sleep.”

“Okay,” Phil said, surprisingly not taking any persuasion; he must be really tired.

“Sorry to cut the game short,” I apologised to the others, Phil and I standing up.

“It’s okay,” Cornelia replied, “Get some rest, you need it, particularly Phil; he’s had a difficult evening.”

I said goodnight to them and Phil and I headed off to our room. Even his walking looked tired; I should’ve thought about this earlier. The second I shut our door behind us, he flopped onto the bed.

“C’mon Phil,” I said, placing a hand on his back, “Get your pyjamas on; you’ll be in bed soon.”

Phil let out a tired grunt and after a number of seconds of contemplation, got up from the bed, finding his pyjamas from where he’d left them this morning. We both got changed and then went to brush our teeth in the small bathroom.

There were a few rules the bus drivers had given us about the bathrooms at the start of the trip. We were to be as sparing as we could with water, and only use the toilets when absolutely necessary, but only for peeing. The opportunities for emptying the tank were limited and nobody wanted the bus to smell. It wasn’t too hard to abide by these rules: we stopped at rest stops or service stations every few hours and there were toilets and showers at the venues that we could use.

When we were done in the bathroom, we climbed into the bed together. I made sure that Phil had everything he could potentially need by his bedside, and that he knew it was there.

“Wake me up if you feel ill during the night,” I said to him,getting comfortable in the bed and putting my arms around him, “Don’t sit and feel sorry for yourself, okay? Tell me and we’ll get through it together.”

“Okay,” Phil mumbled tiredly, nuzzling further into me.

Phil let out another yawn, and I could feel them catching.

“Go to sleep,” I encouraged him, “I’m right here by your side. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Phil said, another yawn catching him out in the middle or the word ‘too’.

I pressed a light kiss to Phil’s head and then proceeded to just hold him in my arms as he went to sleep. I waited until I was sure he was asleep before I even let myself shut my eyes. Phil was radiating warmth like he did sunshine, and the general coziness helped me to get to sleep. Innocently sleeping next to Phil was still one of my favourite things in our relationship. I could hardly sleep alone now that we had got into the habit of it. Going to my family’s house over the holidays was no longer the restful experience it used to be, not now that I needed Phil by my side to sleep properly. I couldn’t have done this tour without Phil, in more ways than one.

We both needed each other so much, and it made me so happy to have Phil right by my side. He never understands why everyone calls him a ‘sunshine’ but I’m sure the smile on my face at that moment was a prime example of the good he unknowingly did in the world.


End file.
